If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger on losing their jobs to the next wave of downsizing.
Here's more than a hundred online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before delving into the forum journals and looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation.

20 users responded in " Skills and Imagination "

My dad is an inventor and an entrepreneur (and an engineer, but that’s not on the graph). He’s really imaginative and I get that from him. I wish that imagination was valued more. Perhaps he just hasn’t found the right audience.

George said,

Why do I want to make it a 3-D chart with determination on another axis?

But I can think of so many ways in which this is variable. You could use lots of creativity at work. . .or you could decide not to. Blogging may not require a great degree of skill, but you could choose to put in more or less. . .and travel could actually take quite a bit of skill depending where you’re going and what you’re doing–you may need survival skills, foraging skills, language ability first aid knowledge etc. (Although I also concede) that you may just need to know how to ask for beer in the local language and use a credit card)

Although I tend to agree that TV and eating out relative to other things are well-placed.

Jacob said,

@SIF – I agree. I intended the diagram to show the possible ranges more than showing specifically where things are related to each other.

john said,

This truly brought a smile to my face. It’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all day. I’d love to see television and restaurants onto the other side of the “skills” axis, thereby implying that watching American Idol and dining at Applebees actually stifles one’s ability to imagine.

Kevin M said,

agree with john, TV and Restaurants are (mostly) anti-imagination and anti-skill.

This makes me think of the whole creative intelligence vs. IQ. I know you should be well rounded in both; but if I had to choose who I’d hire or hang out with, it would be a creative over an intellect.

/note to self: blog posts can be simple AND thought provoking

Maus said,

Now considering that the “job” I “invented” for myself through assiduous application of lifestyle design as taught by 4HWW is to watch “TV” and eat take out chinese for the remaining hours, I find your Cartesian grid to be deeply flawed. Seriously, I would “blog” about it by posting several “imaginative” responses, if I could just put the remote and the chopsticks down for a few minutes.

it seems that a lot of thought went into this graph because there is an uncanny accuracy to it. My point of contention is with entrepreneurship. It shouldn’t be that high up because you dont need phenomenal skills to make it in business, though it helps.

AB said,

I also think entrepreneurship is questionably placed. entrepreneurship is pretty broad and can mean anything from the snake oil salesman that starts a business, promotes it, then sells it to investors and disappears, to the person that develops a solid business that may not incorporate anything imaginative but succeeds through good business management skills. In general though, I would agree with kt that you don’t need phenomenal skills to make it in business, though it helps. (I consider myself an entrepreneur but probably one of the less imaginative types.)

If you had to plot the dollar sign function on this graph, how would it look to you? I see “entreprenuer” all the time as the title of parents on Teen Cribs (MTV), Offspring of world’s top consumers and money makers.

Bob said,

I actually find TV improves my imagination. In fact, the miniseries “I, Claudius” was what sparked my interest in history.

As for gaming…roleplaying (ie. D&D) is pretty much the most creative/imaginative activity you could do.

Great diagram. I’ve printed this off and stuck it on my wall. Not as good as the money flow diagrams though.

CT said,

Entrepreneur is correctly placed as a starting point, it can go higher depending on the awesomeness of the idea. It belongs there because the true definition of entrepreneur is someone(or company) that creates something in the business world that has never been done before. It is a PHD (college, not necessary)of sorts for marketing models, business ventures, products etc.
Martha Stewart fits the category because she recognized and learned to tap a consumer, who the marketing world, never knew existed. The stay at home wife/mother. She knew that these women were the ones who made the day to day purchases for the household. Since Martha, chains of stores (Target & more) and scads of product lines (numerous bearing her name) have arisen to get these ladies to spend the household money.
This caused the marketing world to identify other markets that were perhaps left untapped. Hence, Disney, Sesame Street and others exploit children. Who knew kids had money? I have since met 4 year old kids that carry more cash with them than I do. Never even heard of (nor cared about) the unique age of the “tween” and of course all their special needs to help them through those awkward years. Don’t forget the family pet (the children of the childless & empty nester). Pet product/paraphernalia stores are out of control.
My absolute favorite example of an entrepreneur is Sam Walton. He introduced a new marketing business model to maximize location and low land prices in order get goods to several rural communities at the same time. He put everything those folks needed under one roof (even eye care). He combined Walmart stores with Sam’s stores to maximize the volume discount (albeit for himself). He also located his distribution warehouses equal distance (near interstates, yet rural–low land prices) from his stores to lower his trucking costs. He offered to rural America, one stop shopping and low prices (which his design fostered)that was at the most 25 min by car from home. He placed stores on the fringe of several rural communities for cheap land and to draw each population to the him. He knew that one rural community was not enough to support a store so he drew several to him. For many rural communities, planned family excursions to Walmart became just as much a social event (bumping into friends & neighbors)as it was a shopping trip. He also brought jobs with him. The industry followed up with Home Depots & the like.
If you can’t tell, it makes me a little crazy when people/businesses call themselves an entrepreneur; all they are is a simple business company. When they claim they are the Big E to me, I ask them how they changed business. The conversations are usually short lived.
BTW love the diagram!

phred said,

I disagree that reading takes little imagination. You have a much better reading experience when you involve the mind’s eye

Even calculus is much more interesting if you can mentally/imaginatively revolve the graph when doing surface and volume integrals

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